Thermal Behavior of Aluminized Wax-based Solid Fuel

Abstract

This study investigated effects of aluminum powder in a melting experiment and ignition experiment using an electric furnace for microcrystalline wax fuel with 30 μm aluminum powder added. Melting experiment results show that the melting time of the solid fuel decreases. Therefore, the aluminum powder promotes the phase change of WAX from solid to liquid near the surface of the solid fuel in the boundary layer combustion. Ignition experiment results show that adding aluminum powder reduced the time to ignition. By adding aluminum powder to microcrystalline wax, solid fuel ignites easily due to the ignition heat quantity per unit mass decreased. However, the aluminum powder was not ignited. Nevertheless, by adding aluminum powder to microcrystalline wax, the thermal conductivity increases, which promotes solid fuel melting and ignition.